The shortened 2011-2012 season has offered fans the excitement of more frequent games, but the constant travel and limited rest have taken a toll on the quality of play. Offensive efficiency overall is significantly lower than last year. Additionally, with the rushed preseason, many players took noticeably longer to shake off rust following the hiatus. Or maybe I’m just making excuses for these ten guys, each of whom has played some of the most offensive offense in the league this season.

Stephenson’s offensive approach can best be described as high risk, low reward. He turns the ball over on a remarkable 24.2% of the possessions he uses. And since he’s connecting on 8.7% of his 3’s, you can pretty much count those 2 attempts per 36 minutes as turnovers, too.

Shawne Williams has found his niche as a “catch-and-shoot” player, though in fact he is only consistently good at one of those things. On the plus side, he doesn’t turn the ball over, mainly because he doesn’t dribble.

To lay the blame for Mike D’Antoni’s firing on the Knicks’ underperforming All-Stars would be unfairly neglectful of the ample contribution Douglas has made to the team’s offensive ineffectuality. No player better exemplifies the team’s haphazard shot distribution. He takes more shots, in fewer minutes, than Tyson Chandler, whose field goal percentage (.674) more than doubles Douglas’s (.320). The only spot on the floor where he’s found even moderate success this year is the free throw line (.857 FT%), but he shows a strong aversion to the painted area and remains a 3-point specialist (3.6 3PA/G) in the universe contained within Toney Douglas’s head (.235 3P%).

Daye seems to get worse with experience, as his FG% has been in steady decline since his rookie year, from .464, to .410, to .317 this season. His issues have been described as a crisis of confidence (or, alternately, a stomach bug of Russian origin – H/T commenter ZA!), so I hope he can get his mind right soon for the sake of his career, Pistons fans, and the rims in every NBA arena.

Daniels’ .330 field goal percentage actually looks nice and meaty if you only imagine it as a batting average. On the bright side, after failing to break 30% from 3 in any of the last 7 years, Daniels seems to have all but dropped the 3-pointer from his offensive repertoire. Unfortunately, he seems to have dropped everything else along with it.

If you would like to root for Jannero Pargo but can’t bring yourself to do it because you can’t relate to the ease with which he has mastered the game of basketball, Jeremy Pargo might be the perfect substitute for you. Since the BasketballValue page for the Grizzlies isn’t loading, I’ll venture a guess about Pargo’s offensive plus/minus: it’s terrible.

Perhaps the most amazing number in Rasual Butler’s season totals is his 14 starts. Similar to Shawne Williams, Butler has had some success from 3 in the past and seems to be on an ill-advised mission to recapture that groove by launching 6 erratic heaves per 36 minutes, even as he connects on just 27.3%.

That he is teamed with the best point guard on the planet makes Ryan Gomes’ offensive woes all the more compelling. He has managed to take the already paltry PER he posted last season, 9.0, and cut it squarely in half. It is an anemia worthy of a #1 finish in most years, but again, this year is not like most.

Where do we start? The .405 mark he’s posting from the field despite taking nearly all of his shots at the rim? How about the 6-for-24 showing from the free throw line? You know what, let’s let the fact that he has more turnovers (21) than made field goals (16) in 342 minutes sum up the story and call it a day.

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Thanks for the tip on Daye–I’ve updated the post to include that theory. And yes, it pained me to have to include Daniels. Loved him at Auburn and predicted huge things after that rookie year. Now…it’s like I don’t even recognize him.